Binghamton Mets excel at baseball & signing autographs

I decided to forgo the chance to see if the Mets could put an end to Zack Greinke‘s scoreless innings streak yesterday (they did) so I could catch the last game of the Binghamton Mets’ only visit to Trenton this season.

Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud takes a lead off of first base during Sunday’s game between the Binghamton Mets and Trenton Thunder. (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)

The Binghamton Mets did not disappoint, defeating the Baby Bombers 8-0. I even got to see one real Mets player – catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who was playing the second game of a rehab assignment. He was super nice, signing autographs for almost 10 minutes inside the ballpark before the game. After the game, it seemed like at least 100 people were waiting to catch him before he got on the team bus back to Binghamton… and he signed autographs and posed for selfies with everyone who asked.

I was also able to get Akeel Morris‘ autograph for my All-Time Mets Roster autograph collection. Of the 1,002 Mets players, I now have autographs from at least 911 of them. I was really impressed with the patience of the Binghamton Mets – despite the large crowd, I didn’t see a single player turn down a single fan after the game. And some, like outfield prospect Brandon Nimmo, had nearly as many autographs to sign as d’Arnaud did.

Binghamton Mets pitcher Akeel Morris (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)

Inside the park, the fans might have been disappointed by Nimmo, L.J. Mazzilli or Gavin Cecchini, who came out close enough to game time that they did not have a chance to sign autographs for fans before the game. However, others like pitchers Michael Fullmer and Matt Koch made multiple trips down the line just to sign autographs.

d’Arnaud told us that he feels great and just has to work up to catching a full nine innings (he caught five on Saturday night in the first game of his rehab assignment and was the DH yesterday.) I think he’s even more eager to come off the DL than we are to get him back.